A.4. Automating the Installation with Kickstart

A
Kickstart file specifies settings for an
installation. Once the installation system boots, it can read a
Kickstart file and carry out the installation process without any
further input from a user.

Every Installation Produces a Kickstart File

The Fedora installation process automatically writes a Kickstart
file that contains the settings for the installed system. This
file is always saved as
/root/anaconda-ks.cfg. You may use this
file to repeat the installation with identical settings, or
modify copies to specify settings for other systems.

Fedora includes a graphical application to create and modify
Kickstart files by selecting the options you require. Use the
package system-config-kickstart to install
this utility. To load the Fedora Kickstart editor, choose
Applications->System
Tools->Kickstart.

Kickstart files list installation settings in plain text, with one
option per line. This format lets you modify your Kickstart files
with any text editor, and write scripts or applications that
generate custom Kickstart files for your systems.

To automate the installation process with a Kickstart file, use
the ks option to specify the name and location of
the file:

linux ks=location/kickstart-file.cfg

You may use Kickstart files that are held on either removable
storage, a hard drive, or a network server. Refer to
Table A.2, “Kickstart Sources” for the supported Kickstart
sources.

Kickstart Source

Option Format

CD or DVD drive

ks=cdrom:/directory/ks.cfg

Hard Drive

ks=hd:/device/directory/ks.cfg

Other Device

ks=file:/device/directory/ks.cfg

HTTP Server

ks=http://server.mydomain.com/directory/ks.cfg

FTP Server

ks=ftp://server.mydomain.com/directory/ks.cfg

NFS Server

ks=nfs:server.mydomain.com:/directory/ks.cfg

Table A.2. Kickstart Sources

To obtain a Kickstart file from a script or application on a Web
server, specify the URL of the application with the
ks= option. If you add the option
kssendmac, the request also sends HTTP headers to
the Web application. Your application can use these headers to
identify the computer. This line sends a request with headers to
the application
http://server.example.com/kickstart.cgi: